Print version ISSN 1405-5546

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new algorithm to route text queries within a P2P network, called Neighboring-Ant Search (NAS) algorithm. The algorithm is based on the Ant Colony System metaheuristic and the SemAnt algorithm. More so, NAS is hybridized with local environment strategies of learning, characterization, and exploration. Two Learning Rules (LR) are used to learn from past performance, these rules are modified by three new Learning Functions (LF). A Degree-Dispersion-Coefficient (DDC) as a local topological metric is used for the structural characterization. A variant of the well-known one-step Lookahead exploration is used to search the nearby environment. These local strategies make NAS self-adaptive and improve the performance of the distributed search. Our results show the contribution of each proposed strategy to the performance of the NAS algorithm. The results reveal that NAS algorithm outperforms methods proposed in the literature, such as Random-Walk and SemAnt.